The police in Kano State has said that Elijah Ode, a barber residing in the the state, widely reported on Wednesday to have been arrested for blasphemy, was arrested for a different offence.
Police PRO in Kano, Abdullahi Haruna said the man was arrested over an alleged rape. He said it was some people who wanted to cause trouble that said he was arrested for alleged blasphemy.
An official of Hisbah in Kano had also denied Ode’s arrest, saying, “We don’t have any one like that with us.”
Hisbah is the Sharia Police and would have been the arresting authority in the first instance, in the case of an accusation of blasphemy.
Ode from Adum East, Obi LGA of Benue State, lives in Sabon Gari in the city of Kano.
Reports had said he was accused of blasphemy by religious extremists, in the course of his work as a barber. Read more here.
